SCHOOL OF LAW

School of Law

SRM, which offers courses in other disciplines, felt the need to foray into the field of law. SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University) has recently launched SRM law school with an aim to yield future legal professionals to our country. N Balu, former vice-chancellor of the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) in Cochin, has been appointed as the dean of the school. He was also the former professor and head of department of legal studies, University of Madras.

The school will function under the aegis of the faculty of science and humanities, whose director is R Balasubramanian, who is the former head of department of politics and public administration at the University of Madras.

The focus of the school will be on a holistic approach to the study of law, taught in the context of the socio-economic-cultural developments in India. The new law school will offer three courses which includes a five-year BA LLB, five-year BCom LLB (both honours) and three-year LLB (honours). While the legal component of the three courses will be based on what has been prescribed by the Bar Council of India, the curriculum will also include non-legal courses. From a non-law perspective, students will be exposed to English as a communication skill, political science, international relations, history, sociology, business management, fundamentals of accounting, cost and accounting management, banking and insurance services, human resource management, to name a few.

Functioning out of a quiet environment in the outskirts of Chennai, the school will have air-conditioned classrooms with the facility for powerpoint presentations and a library with both textbooks and online journals. The campus also has a moot court hall and a legal aid centre. Students will follow a dress code similar to practising lawyers.

The SRM Group of institutions have both domestic and international advisory boards drawn not only from the academia but also from the corporate world and research institutions. Likewise, the School of Law will have a separate advisory board consisting of former justices of the Supreme Court and high courts as also legal luminaries who will provide an insight and shape the curriculum in tune with the changes. Students are encouraged to opt for internships so that by the end of the course, they will not be new lawyers, but experienced practitioners. To help students to become more employable, the school will put emphasis on internships from the first year of study.